INVERNESS · SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
Loch Ness, the long west drive, the steam train across the viaduct.
Day trips out of Inverness across the Highlands. Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, Skye via Eilean Donan, the Jacobite Steam Train to Mallaig, the malt distilleries of Speyside, Culloden, Cawdor, and the road north to John o'Groats.
One city, every Highland day
The Highlands from one base.
Inverness is the only Scottish town from which you can reach Loch Ness, Skye, Speyside, the Cairngorms, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the far north — each one in a single day. Here is what is in reach in every direction, and how long it takes to get there.
Only out of Inverness
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Castles, hikes and pretty drives exist all over Scotland. These three don’t. The deepest loch with a fifteen-hundred-year mystery, the only working steam route across the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and the densest concentration of single-malt distilleries on earth — all within a day’s reach. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
The legend in the loch
Loch Ness
Deeper than the North Sea at 230 metres, holds more freshwater than every lake in England and Wales combined, and an unsolved sighting record stretching back fifteen hundred years. The cruise leaves from Dochgarroch fifteen minutes south of town, passes the ruins of Urquhart Castle, and runs a live sonar feed on the screen. The water has not given anything away yet.
- 1 From Inverness: Loch Ness Cruise and Urquhart Castle
- 2 Loch Ness Cruise, Outlander & Urquhart Castle Tour from Inverness
- 3 Loch Ness and Caledonian Canal 2-Hour Cruise from Dochgarroch
Steam across the viaduct
The Hogwarts Express
The real working steam train, the real curved viaduct, the same locomotive used in the films. Fort William to Mallaig and back through some of the most photographed scenery in Britain. The Jacobite runs twice a day from May through October and books out months ahead. Tours from Inverness pair it with the long western drive past Eilean Donan.
- 1 Hogwarts Express and the Scenic Highlands Day Tour from Inverness
- 2 From Inverness: Jacobite Steam Train and Highlands Tour
- 3 Inverness: Glenfinnan Viaduct, Mallaig, & Loch Ness Day Tour
The malt whisky country
Speyside Distilleries
More single-malt distilleries inside an hour of Inverness than anywhere else on earth. Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Macallan, Aberlour, Strathisla, Cardhu and another fifty across the glen. The Speyside Cooperage still hand-builds the casks. Most distilleries pour you a dram before lunch and a second one after the warehouse tour.
- 1 1 Day Moray Coast Tour with Speyside Whisky from Inverness
- 2 From Inverness: Cairngorms National Park and Whisky Tour
- 3 Distillery and Brewery Tour in Inverness Scotland
The first day out
If you only do one day from Inverness.
It is the loch, the ruined castle on the headland, and the boat that takes you between them. The day trip every visitor to Inverness ends up booking.
The bookable classics
Inverness's Most Popular Day Tours
Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, Skye and Eilean Donan, the Hogwarts Express across the viaduct. The day trips most travellers book before they arrive.
By place
Pick a corner of the Highlands.
Each one is its own day out from Inverness. Loch Ness for the cruise and the castle. Skye for the long west drive. Eilean Donan for the postcard. Speyside for the distilleries. Culloden for the battlefield. Glenfinnan for the steam train.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Boat for the loch. Two wheels for the canal towpath. Boots for the Cairngorms. Steam train for the viaduct. Coach for the long west drive. Bus for the city you’re already in.
Stone, stories, sometimes sieges
Castles of the Highlands.
Urquhart in ruins above the loch, Eilean Donan rebuilt on three lochs at once, Cawdor with the Macbeth ghosts, Dunrobin like a French chateau washed ashore at Golspie. Three castle days we’d put on a first Highland trip.
Walk where the show filmed
On the Outlander trail.
Culloden Battlefield, the Clava Cairns standing stones, Glen Affric, Falkland and the Highland glens the production crews keep coming back to. Three days that take you to the actual filming locations, with guides who know the books and the history both.
Past the last town
North from Inverness.
Dolphins at Chanonry Point, Dunrobin’s falconry display, the dunes at Dornoch, John o’Groats and the ferry across to Orkney. Three days that head the opposite direction — up the east coast through Sutherland, Caithness, and out to the top.
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